Quick action has a long-term impage.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy Taguiwalo has ordered the immediate release of PHP5,000 to each poor family affected by Supertyphoon “Lawin” (international name: Haima) in northern Luzon.
The said amont is part of the emergency shelter assistance (ESA) fund.
The DSWD is supposed to give out an ESA amounting to PHP30,000 each to families whose homes were destroyed by a disaster and PHP10,000 to those whose homes were damaged. However, the full amount will only be released after local governments and the DSWD field offices are still officially identifying the affected families validating the count of damaged houses.
“On Sat, Oct 22, Taguiwalo issued a circular directing DSWD field offices to hand out a uniform amount of ESA for the time being, ” reports Dona Z. Pazzibugan in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Taguiwalo revealed that, with the whole process taken into consideration, the ESA funds will be ready to be distributed “in a month.” The DSWD will likewise provide cash for work for affected families.
She also pointed out that “the DSWD wanted to prevent another debacle, as thousands of affected families are still waiting for their ESA three years after Yolanda struck the Visayas.”
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